How to Choose a Bible Version by Robert Thomas

I really enjoy reading about how translations came about and the history behind them. This book gives a brief overview of the history of the different English translations, those that are in the Tyndale tradition and those that are not. It also talks about the manuscripts that translators use and the age of those manuscripts, which could affect their reliability. Fascinating stuff! It also has a value system for determining how close to the original a particular translation is and at what point a translation goes from being considered a “literal” translation to a “free” translation or a paraphrase. These are also called formal and dynamic equivalence.
Interesting read and good information to help in determining what translation to best use. The closer to the original language the better when it comes to studying the Bible. Personally I prefer the NASB and the ESV and both of these hold up well in the literal translation category. But no one translation is perfect so it is a good idea to use multiple translations for study.